Nurturing your inner artist

A strategy for writer soul care

I’m writing this from the house of a friend in the Rocky Mountains where I have spent a long weekend wandering trails, soaking up the scenery, and just resting.

As a writer who is currently working on two different books and launching/marketing a third, this feels a bit indulgent. I mean, I’m busy and grateful for it. This is exactly the wrong time, but also the perfect time, for a long weekend getaway.

But is a weekend away “indulgent” if you’re weary? Is a day off indulgent if it replenishes your energy?

Do you have to wait until you’re completely wrung out before you take care of yourself? What if, as soon as you recognize the signs that you might soon hit the wall, you stop, divert, and don’t hit it?

As a writer, part of your job is to nurture your inner artist. Your writer’s soul. You are the only one who can figure out what that looks like. (Hint: it probably doesn’t look like vegging out in front of the television or doom scrolling on your phone. Or just pushing yourself to spend another hour at your desk.)

Dear writers, pay attention to your soul. It is the reservoir from which you draw. Don’t let it get sucked dry, or poisoned by negativity, fear, or burnout. Figure out what would fill you with joy and hope and do that thing.

Good writing, even about hard topics, is beautiful. If you want to produce art or writing or beauty, that is, if you’re hoping for productive output, you must periodically put yourself in places that refill the reservoir. For most artists, that means absorbing beauty. Work diligently, then step away to rest. Repeat.

Several times a week, I run forest preserve trails by my home, breathing in the wildflowers and deer, pounding my stress, laughing with my running buddies. That’s essential to my physical and mental health but also to my productivity as a writer.

Maybe you’d rather visit an art museum, a botanic garden, a city park. It could be as simple as buying yourself some flowers or watching birds at a backyard bird feeder. It might be reading poetry or a well-crafted novel. There is beauty around the corner if you look for it, and you should look for it.

If you’re not usually a visual artist, doing a little sketching might connect you with an untapped reserve. If you are a visual artist or musician, journaling can bring new insights.

But sometimes, you need something a little more restorative, a little more radical. When opportunity presents itself, grab it.

So I’m in Colorado. I quietly scooted out here, only informing those who need to know that I’m traveling. I’m staying with friends at their home in the mountains. My investment is mostly one of time. I’ll do some work while I’m here—I’m writing this newsletter, for example.

But I’ll also gaze at mountains and hike and rest. I’ll restore my soul. Now, hiking up rocky mountain trails past swaths of wildflowers, looking at stunning vistas, seeing clouds that take your breath away, climbing until your legs ache, might not feel restorative to you. Fine. Figure out what fills, inspires, rejuvenates. Then do that thing!

What restores your soul? Do you even know? If you could, what would you do to refill your reservoir, get your creativity flowing?

Many of us, especially women, don’t even know. We don’t know how to ask for what we want because we don’t know what we want. We’ve been conditioned not to know. It’s been trained right out of us. Some of us have been told to deny our desires, that they’re somehow selfish or even evil. We’ve been trained to shut down our preferences in the name of being good or helpful or even Christian.

We’ve made a solid habit putting other people’s needs before our own for so long, we detached from our own longings. We don’t know how to answer the question, “What does my soul need? What would bring me joy?”

Don’t get me wrong. There are times to defer, times to serve, times to nurture others, even sacrifice. But if we do that exclusively, and never care for ourselves, we can actually lose our ability to provide care to anyone.

This is a tragedy. God created you and put in you passions and joys. The deepest longings of your soul flow from the Spirit, and those longings are good. Those passions, joys, and desires are what fuel good writing, excellent storytelling, compelling teaching on the page. They give your life meaning and purpose.

One thing that brings me joy is welcoming people to my home. But in recent weeks, we have done a lot of welcoming and I sensed that I was getting weary. Here’s how I could tell, and how you can tell: I really struggled to stay present, to be attentive in the moment. Instead, I counted the days until I could escape. I lived in the future rather than the present. If you have escape fantasies, it might be worth taking a moment to pay attention to what’s driving that. I also noticed my writing productivity dropping.

Then came an opportunity. My friends extended an invitation, but I still had to say yes. I could have told myself I’m too busy, I don’t have time, whatever. But I chose to save the only life I could as Mary Oliver would say.  I’m grateful that instead of being the welcomer, I can be the welcomed for a few days. What invitations are there waiting for you?

Sometimes, you have to ask for what you need, but then accept the gifts when the universe sends them your way. Hiking through aspen groves or noticing wild lupine might not seem to connected to writing, but it most definitely is, at least for me. I didn’t know what I needed until it was there, bathing my soul.

As a writer, you’ll find it hard to produce anything of beauty if your life is devoid of joy. If you’ve neglected an essential of the creative life: find and experience beauty. Take time to rest.

Writers need to engage in a holy selfishness, if you want to call it that.

So maybe you can go to the mountains, or the ocean. Or just a quiet place in the country. Or a nearby city. If you can’t go for a weekend, go for an afternoon. The change of scenery shifts the view, gets you out of your routine. Fill your creative, artistic soul so that new and beautiful things can flow out of you.

What do you do to nurture your inner artist? To care for your soul? Leave a comment!

P.S. My newest book, Live Like a Guide Dog, releases next week! Preorder your copy today!